Wild Prey by Brian Klingborg

 

First Line: Myanmar. The man and the boy wait until dark-- then they go in search of something to kill.

 

There's nothing for it. The only way he's going to rid the police station of the presence of teenage Meirong is to go out and find her sister. Trouble is, no one in any of the other police stations in northern China can be bothered to help him. He's been trying to run a sting operation on the sale and consumption of rare and endangered animals, and when he learns that Meirong's sister was a waitress in a restaurant owned by a gangster and frequented by powerful men from all walks of life for its exotic-- and highly illegal-- delicacies, the lead turns into a brick wall. No one wants to upset any of the men who are regulars at the restaurant.

 

Then he gets a phone call from a mysterious government official in Beijing who wants him to go undercover to track down an illegal animal trafficking network. No matter how dangerous, this is the perfect opportunity for him to get results for both of his investigations. All he's got to do is travel deep into the lawless wilds of Myanmar into the hidden compound of a ruthless female warlord. What could possibly go wrong?

 

~

 

Author Brian Klingborg mined all the potential from his first Lu Fei mystery, Thief of Souls, and created a standout in Wild Prey-- even though the treatment of animals and most of the listed cuisine is stomach-churning. From flashes of laugh-out-loud humor to learning Chinese slang to the mind-boggling fact that there are 200 million surveillance cameras in China to the story itself, I was engrossed. Even though there is still the age-old problem of the rich and powerful insisting on being above the law, it is good to learn that China is finally bowing to international pressure and the coronavirus to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade. 

 

Inspector Lu Fei still finds almost no help from his fellow police officers, but at least he does have one friend in a high place-- and two fellow characters to help him carry the load. One, the teenage Meirong, is alternately funny and endearing as she camps out in the police station to shame Lu Fei into finding her sister. Little does she know, he is working on the case, he's just not telling her everything he's doing. The second character helping to carry the story load is the female warlord in Myanmar. She's not your typical thug even though you'd be a fool to turn your back on her. And at least Lu Fei has one person who's not involved in his work. It's the bar owner Yanyan with whom he's passionately in love, although she still seems to be in love with her dead husband. Watching that relationship unfold is interesting, to say the least. Will Lu Fei win Yanyan over? We shall see.

For those of you worried about those animal trafficking scenes and the descriptions of the dishes made from the animals, Klingborg does not go overboard. He knows that a light touch is the best way to proceed and although those scenes are few and of short duration, they still resonate and show the importance of why this trade must stop. We humans have to be intelligent enough to devise new ways to show off immense wealth and to cure erectile dysfunction. Don't we? In Wild Prey, Brian Klingborg shows that there are people willing to put their lives on the line to put a stop to one of the more disgusting ways to prove you're a big shot.    

Wild Prey by Brian Klingborg

eISBN: 9781250779083

Minotaur Books © 2022

eBook, 304 pages

 

Police Procedural, #2 Inspector Lu Fei mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Thief of Souls by Brian Klingborg

 

First Line: On the night the young woman's corpse was discovered, hollowed out like a birchbark canoe, Inspector Lu Fei sits alone in the Red Lotus bar, determined to get gloriously drunk.

 

Usually, Inspector Lu Fei investigates nothing more serious than the theft of a few chickens in the rural northern Chinese town where he lives, but the brutal murder of a young woman means the Beijing CID sends one of its rising stars to take over. However, prosperity and stability are much more important to China than the death of an insignificant village girl, so pinning the death on the first likely suspect seems to be the order of the day. But not for Lu Fei.

 

Lu Fei wants justice for the murdered girl, so he continues to dig deeper. As a result, he finds himself at loggerheads with local Communist Party leaders and corrupt business interests, but he becomes more determined than ever when he links the girl's death to other unsolved crimes.

 

~

 

Brian Klingborg's first Inspector Lu Fei mystery set in northern China had me looking for a heavy winter coat and a thicker pair of gloves. It was interesting to read a mystery set in an area other than one of the well-known large cities, especially one in the Harbin area which has a strong Russian influence. 

 

Lu Fei is a strong main character. Luckily for him, he's well versed in the martial arts, but he lives a very lonely life, spending many evenings after work drinking in a local bar. One of the reasons why he's lonely is due to his integrity. He's going to do what's right, no matter what, and that puts him at odds-- over and over again-- with corrupt police officers. He even has problems with the constables in his station. The constables' pay is unbelievably low, and they get so much disrespect from people that they have no real incentive to do their jobs properly.

 

The strongest parts of Thief of Souls are Lu Fei himself and all the information Klingborg gives readers about modern China, a lot of which is fascinating, and I felt that I came away from the book with a much better understanding of the country. However, that presented a problem. The author had to interject this information into the story so often that I began to feel as though I were attending class instead of reading a mystery. To his credit, I really don't see how he could've done this any differently. The information was crucial to the story, but it constantly interrupted the flow.  

I also found the killer's identity much too easy to deduce, and I hope Klingborg spends more time in the next book fleshing out his secondary characters because, even though Lu Fei is an interesting character, he can't do it alone. 

Even though this first book in the series has some problems, it's still a read that kept my interest throughout, and I'll be interested to see what sort of investigation Lu Fei will be heading next.

Thief of Souls by Brian Klingborg

eISBN: 9781250779069

Minotaur Books © 2021

eBook, 288 pages

 

Police Procedural, #1 Inspector Lu Fei mystery

Rating: C+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

The Chinese Bell Murders by Robert van Gulik

First Line: It is now six years since I withdrew from the prosperous tea firm inherited from my father, and settled down to peaceful retirement in our country villa outside the eastern city gate.

Back in the 1980s, my mother read all Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee books and loved them. I knew that, sooner or later, I would have to read at least one of them myself. Much, much later, I have finally done so, and I can see why Mom enjoyed them so much.

Three of Judge Dee's cases are covered in The Chinese Bell Murders: "Rape Murder in Half Moon Street," "The Secret Door of the Buddhist Temple," and "The Case of the Skeleton Under the Bell."

Judge Dee is often called the Sherlock Holmes of ancient China, and it's easy to see why. These cases are all about their ingenious mysteries, all about solving the puzzles. Judge Dee thinks nothing of donning disguises to get at the truth, and he is scrupulous at upholding the law, although not all of his able assistants are. I also appreciated the glimpse into the life and culture of 7th-century China.

This is a series that I feel I can come back to once in a while when I'm in the mood for a "Just the facts, ma'am" mystery. Even though I am a bone-deep character-driven reader, there is something to be said for occasionally solving a concise puzzle or two.

The Chinese Bell Murders by Robert van Gulik

ISBN: 9780060728885

Harper Perennial © 2004

Originally published 1958.

Paperback, 262 pages

Historical Mystery, #2 Judge Dee mystery

Rating: B

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet.


 

The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly

First Line: Breathless, bleeding and covered in sweat, Bill Lynch dropped into the mouth of the cave and crab-crawled further into it as quickly as he could.

The Chinese government has been working on a secret project for forty years, and they're just about ready to unveil it. The secret? They have proven that dragons do exist, and they have built a one-of-a-kind zoo to showcase them to the world. However, before the grand opening, they bring a small group of VIPs and journalists to tour the zoo. Among this group is Dr. Cassandra Jane ("CJ") Cameron, an expert on reptiles who also writes for National Geographic. Their Chinese hosts have told everyone in the group that they will be awestruck at seeing these dragons, and that the beasts are perfectly safe. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.... (Hmm. Where have we heard this before?)

Sometimes I want to pick up a book and be taken along on a roller coaster ride of a story. I just want to have fun creating my own mental movie. That is exactly what I did with Matthew Reilly's The Great Zoo of China. From first page to last, I willing suspended disbelief and had a blast. 

CJ Cameron is the type of intelligent, determined woman who can fight a hungry crocodile and win. When everything starts to go pear-shaped, I knew CJ was the person to glue myself to. From the plausible why's and how's of how the Chinese government could create such a zoo to the beautiful yet deadly dragons to the all-out, on-the-fly escape plans Cameron has to come up with, I was on board and enjoying every syllable and punctuation mark. 

Is the plot predictable? Not always. Are the bad guys really bad and the good guys the best they can be? You bet! Will you really believe in the existence of dragons? That I don't know. All I know is that, for 416 pages, I certainly did.

If you enjoyed the Jurassic Park movies (at least one or two of them), and if you're in the mood for action-packed derring-do and just plain fun, I highly recommend picking up a copy of The Great Zoo of China. What a ride!
     

The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly

ISBN: 9781476749556

Gallery Books © 2015

Hardcover, 416 pages

Thriller, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: Paperback Swap   

A Calamitous Chinese Killing by Shamini Flint

First Line: Justin Tan stood at the main junction of the old hutong, a neighbourhood of old courtyards dating from Imperial times, and stared down narrow alleys that disappeared quickly into darkness.

Inspector Singh is so used to his boss in Singapore shuffling him off to other countries in an attempt to be rid of him that it comes as an (unwelcome) surprise when a high-ranking diplomat demands that Singh investigate the death of her son in Beijing. The Beijing police insist that the young man's being beaten to death in a back alley is nothing but a robbery gone wrong. She doesn't believe it.

Singh is highly skeptical of the whole thing, but once he finds a detail or two that just don't add up, no one can make him stop. But our "plump pursuer of the truth" has no official status in Beijing, and trying to solve a murder in a country that practices socialism "with Chinese characteristics" is a very dangerous business indeed.

Shamini Flint's Inspector Singh series is one of my favorites. Not only does she let me travel to countries that I will never see, she gives me a real feel for each one-- geographically, politically, and culturally. They're perfect for armchair travelers. In some ways Flint's Inspector Singh of the healthy appetite and blindingly white sneakers reminds me of Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri in New Delhi. For one thing, both characters will have you sampling some spicy and delicious cuisines-- and isn't that a fantastic way of having books appeal to all our senses?

As Singh begins to investigate, he quickly learns how difficult it can be to seek truth from facts in a country where rumors are currency. Once again he's going to have to rely on an interpreter, and this time he is blessed with the one he's given: Li Jun, a retired policeman who can help Singh with so much more than just the language barrier. As these two become acquainted with each other, they make quite a team.

As in most investigations, there are several threads that must be unknotted before the truth can be known. The fate of the dissident Professor Luo shocked me down to my marrow and will stay with me, much as a scene from Dominque Lapierre's City of Joy published in 1985 has done. The childless Singh is led to the professor by a brave young woman named Dao Ming, and he meets yet another named Jemima. The way he deals with these girls proves that even though he has no children, he does have a way with them.

The mystery in A Calamitous Chinese Killing was one of putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. The bad guys were easy to spot, but all the whys and hows and whens were the difficult bits. It's a mystery that entertains on many levels and one that evokes many emotions. From the aforementioned horror to humor, as when Singh's "driver weaved between lanes like a fighter pilot avoiding enemy fire." A word of warning: have a box of tissues handy before reaching the end of the book because Singh also manages a very strong tug on the heartstrings, too.

I highly recommend all the Inspector Singh books, but if you're worried about starting yet another series, each one stands alone well. I can't wait to see where Inspector Singh will be headed next.

Inspector Singh Investigates: A Calamitous Chinese Killing by Shamini Flint

ISBN: 9780749957797

Piatkus Books © 2013

Paperback, 320 pages

Police Procedural, #6 Inspector Singh mystery

Rating: A

Source: the author 

The Corpse Reader by Antonio Garrido

First Line: Shang didn't know death was coming for him until he tasted the blood spurting up into his throat.

In obeyance with custom in 13th century China,  budding forensic investigator Ci Song unwillingly gives up his studies to help his family. After another tragedy strikes, Ci finds himself a fugitive and has no other recourse but to take a job as a lowly gravedigger-- which does allow him to sharpen his skills as a "corpse reader." His abilities make him sought after, and he soon receives a summons from the Imperial Court itself-- a summons that will take every ounce of his corpse reading skill to keep the Emperor-- and Ci himself-- out of danger.

The author did much research on an actual person-- Song Ci, considered the founding father of CSI-style forensic science. Garrido tells us about his research and how he went about writing the book in a section at the end. This section is well worth reading. In fact I would have to say that I probably enjoyed it more than I did the story itself.

I found the villain to be glaringly obvious, but even more than that is the fact that Garrido's main character drove me crazy. As written by the author, Ci is academically brilliant and socially obtuse. For a person who is supposedly as brilliant as he at piecing together the most obscure forensic details, Ci is completely ignorant of the people around him. In addition, each time he's cornered by someone who's unraveled one of his personal secrets, his only reaction is to run-- yet he has the courage to face down the Emperor himself over a small forensic detail?

As you can see, my enjoyment of this book was hampered by two things: (1) my inability to put myself in the time period and cultural beliefs of 13th century China, and (2) my reaction to the main character. Something tells me that if I fell into a time machine and opened the door onto this era in China, I wouldn't last very long. I don't have a feudal "decapitate-first-don't-bother-asking-questions" mentality, and I've always had a problem-- in books and in real life-- with people who are book smart yet have absolutely no common sense.

This book sets you down right in the heart of China 800 years ago. If-- unlike me-- you can be more forgiving of that time period's mindset and of a main character who's almost too naive to live, your mileage will most certainly vary from mine. I sincerely hope it does, and even though everything was not to my liking, I really appreciated a glimpse into the mind of a truly brilliant man, Song Ci.

The Corpse Reader by Antonio Garrido

Translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead

ISBN: 9781612184364

AmazonCrossing © 2013

Paperback, 494 pages

Historical Mystery, Standalone

Rating: C-

Source: Publicist

The Risk Agent by Ridley Pearson

First Line: Lu Hao, a slim, well-dressed man in his twenties stood on the roof of a subcompact car the size of a toaster, peering over a ten-foot-high concrete-block wall and into the parking lot outside an aging tannery.

When a Chinese National working for an American company and his security detail are kidnapped on the streets of Shanghai, Rutherford Risk is called in to handle the recovery of the hostages. Private investigation is illegal in China, so handling this matter will be a very delicate affair.

The security company brings in two outsiders to find out the identity of the kidnappers. Forensic accountant Grace Chu is hired to follow the money. Her American education and Chinese military service make her a very effective agent. John Knox is a civilian who has a lot of training in combat and knows the language, but his friendship with one of the hostages makes him unpredictable.

Following the money proves to be even more complicated than originally anticipated, and people begin to doubt whether Chu and Knox can find out who's behind the kidnapping before the deadline. The further Chu and Knox probe, the more they come to realize that there's a lot more at stake than anyone realizes.

Author Ridley Pearson lived in China for a period of time, and it certainly shows in this novel. His portrait of modern China was my favorite part of the book. How the people behave during a national holiday, how the government attempts to find ways to be self-sufficient in agriculture, how huge cities can be built-- seemingly overnight-- and millions of people expected to pack up and move in... all these details and dozens more brought the setting to life for me.

This is the first book in a proposed series featuring John Knox-- learned in languages and combat-- who runs an import-export business to pay for the help his developmentally disabled brother needs. His partner in this book, Grace Chu, is vital because she can go places and do things without causing suspicion. Character development in a book is very important to me, and I felt that was lacking here. Knox and Chu both have so much potential, but they took a backseat to the action. Since this is the beginning of a series featuring Knox, readers will have the opportunity to learn more about him in future books, and I'm hoping that Grace Chu will appear again, too. (I know, I know. Thrillers aren't supposed to have a lot of character development, but I know some that do!)

The plot has plenty of twists and turns. It's everyone for himself, what's in it for me, don't trust anyone else... all further complicated because the Chinese play by an entirely different set of rules. I have to admit that, the more I read, the more I felt as though the plot had too many twists and too many turns. I was exhausted by book's end, and although The Risk Agent has two strong main characters and a superb setting, in the end it was just an "okay" read for me. If a few twists (and fifty to one hundred pages) had been removed, and the characters emphasized more, I would have loved it. If you're one of the many readers who prefer action to character (and believe me, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that), you probably will love it.

The Risk Agent by Ridley Pearson

ISBN:  9780399158834

G.P. Putnam's Sons  ©2012

Hardcover, 432 pages

Genre: Thriller, #1 John Knox

Rating: C+

Wild China

Denis and I have been indulging ourselves with nature lately. Nature on DVD, that is. I've become a David Attenborough groupie, but that's a post for another day.

I think the BBC has the absolute best nature programming going, so when Denis told me that he had added Wild China to his Netflix queue, I knew it would be good...but I had reservations.

Hopefully I'm not the only person around here who has a tendency to think of China as wall-to-wall people. Just how "wild" could China be?

The BBC showed me in spades. Each segment covers a different section of the country, and not only spotlights the natural world but also features a few of the traditions of the people who live there. An added bonus is the narrator, Bernard Hill (King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings films).

This two-disc set showed me just how breathtakingly beautiful parts of China are, and in addition I came away with an appreciation of how the "country folk" have worked with nature for hundreds of years. If you haven't seen this already and you enjoy nature programs, I highly recommend it. To conclude this post, I'll see if I can whet your whistle with a small clip:

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Title: Shanghai Girls
Author: Lisa See
ISBN: 9781400067114, Random House, 2009
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: B+

First Line: "Our daughter looks like a South China peasant with those red cheeks," my father complains, pointedly ignoring the soup before him.

Lisa See is a master of immersing her readers in a time and a culture completely different from their own. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was one of my top reads the year that I read it, and I couldn't wait to begin reading See's latest.

The 1930s are drawing to a close. Two sisters, Pearl and May, enjoy their lifestyle. They are "calendar girls"--what we would call models. Their faces sell dozens of different products. They wear the latest Western fashions. They party late. They like to ignore their rich parents. If a ceiling fan disappears or a few servants seem to have gone missing, Pearl and Mae pay little attention. They are young, beautiful, and they live in Shanghai--the Paris of Asia.

Their world falls to pieces when they learn that their father has gambled away his wealth and sold them as brides to two Chinese brothers living in California in order to clear his debts. They throw away their tickets to Los Angeles and go on modeling and going to parties, learning too late that their behavior cost them their chance to flee the invading Japanese. Going through hell to escape Shanghai, they make their way to California only to be kept at Angel Island--the Ellis Island of the West Coast of the United States. The next twenty years will bring many changes to their lives.

In so many ways, this book succeeds brilliantly. The author took my imagination straight to the streets of Shanghai and into the lives of two very young and selfish girls who can step over the body of a dead baby in the street on their way to a party, neither of them seeing anything wrong. This is one of the things I love about See's writing: the way she matter-of-factly opens my eyes to a totally alien culture.

The Japanese invasion of Shanghai was vivid, as was the two sisters' escape from the city. The endless months they were forced to spend on Angel Island made me a bit stir crazy, and Pearl's life in Los Angeles was depressing to the extreme.

Where the book failed for me was in the characterizations. I don't care for books in which all the male characters are depicted as lazy, stupid, weak, ego maniacal or just plain evil. Pearl's husband Sam was the sole decent male in the entire lot, and even he had his moments of weakness.

I also have to admit that I found the two main characters, May and Pearl, to be extremely irritating. May is the one who thinks only of herself. As long as she's being complimented and has plenty of pretty clothes to wear and fancy transportation, she's fit to live with. If those things don't happen, she's a pain in the neck. Pearl, on the other hand, is the classic martyr-- always sublimating herself in order to kowtow to what everyone else wants--and being oh so brave about it the entire time.

The ending of the book was rather abrupt. Almost a classic cliffhanger involving Pearl's spoiled daughter. It will be interesting to see if this does set up a sequel.

You may wonder why I still gave this book such a good rating. Such is the power of Lisa See's writing. Her depiction of Shanghai and Los Angeles during that time period and her description of culture in both Shanghai and the Chinatown of Los Angeles are so powerful that I can forget about wanting to shake some sense into both May and Pearl.

I am a character-driven reader. It is very seldom that I'm able to rate a book highly when I don't care for any of the people in it. In the case of Shanghai Girls, I think of the streets of Shanghai, the sights, the smells, bombs exploding, working in the shops of Chinatown in Los Angeles...the vivid canvas See painted is what I think of, not Pearl and May.

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